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For the PSLM, a Public Presence but Mixed Success

News Analysis

Summers has not commented publicly on the living wage issue, and although students and faculty might consider it poor form for Summers to ignore the committee's recommendations, he is under no obligation to implement them.

However, the PSLM took an issue that most students were apathetic about and, in three weeks, turned it into a national movement. PSLM united janitors and students, Faculty and dining hall workers, staff and Cantabrigians in a giant attempt to pressure the University into granting a living wage.

It succeeded beyond its promoters' wildest dreams: the largest crowds in more than a decade filled the Yard. On some nights, 100 people slept out in the "tent city."

"The living wage is no longer a student concern. The living wage movement is no longer a student movement," McOwen said at yesterday's rally.

If PSLM is unhappy with the committee's recommendations, they will still have the support on-campus to push for more changes. Perhaps, though, one cheer during yesterday's rally might be prescient.

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At one point, the crowd of PSLM supporters chanted, "We'll be back, we'll be back."

"Everyone recognizes this is just the first step in the process," Feigin said.

--Staff writer Garrett M. Graff can be reached at ggraff@fas.harvard.edu.

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